


Maximum Rewrite

by mayasaura



Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, Gen, Spitefic, take max's example kids, they say some bad words but not in front of the children, warning for child abuse at some point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:45:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9308009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayasaura/pseuds/mayasaura
Summary: It didn’t start with six children, and it didn’t end with six children.  But, somewhere in the middle, came along six children.  They were a patchwork of misfits.  In most ways, they were very, very different.  Their uniting factors included a penchant for sarcasm, distaste for authority, and the pair of wings each of them had sprouting from their back.This story is much bigger than them, but it’s the little things that count.





	1. Six Kids Lived Together In Harmony

**Author's Note:**

> sup folks i hated the maximum ride series so much im gonna write it my way  
> and uh, i've never written an extended fanfic, so im gonna be making a lot of little edits to tags and such as i figure it out

“GET UP! WAKEY WAKEY EGGS N’ BAKEY!”

Max tore through the house, pounding on doorjambs. Her brown hair was in the same messy braid it had been in for four days, which would happen to be the last time she showered. She managed not to stink, though, which was more than some of her flock could say - such as Gazzy ‘The Gasman’, lovingly dubbed so for his notorious indigestion. He stumbled out of his room yawning, all his freckles clearly visible now that it was summer. “I hope it’s actually eggs and bacon.”

Max had to kick Iggy’s door open and shake him awake herself to get him out of bed. He muttered swears at her as she yanked the blanket off. “Ig, I need you to make breakfast with whatever we still have in the fridge.” He simply growled at her.  
“C’mon, it’ll be like Chopped!” chirped Nudge from the doorway. Her wildly curly hair bounced as she did, still shiny with conditioner. She skipped down to the bathroom and yelled at Fang to get out, she had to go. Seconds later, Max let out a strangled yelp when the man himself appeared at her side and helped drag Iggy down the hall.

“Don’t do that, Christ.”  
Fang shook his messy black hair out of his eyes. “Don’t what, breathe?” So Innocent.  
Max glared at him. “You know, the thing.” She gestured vaguely.  
“Ah. I will be certain not to do ‘the thing’,” he deadpanned.  
Iggy finally wriggled out of their grasp. “Okay, I’m up, stop torturing me with your banter.”  
“Great, make food before I do!” Max gave him a threatening grin that would have had a fantastic effect if he weren’t blind. Both boys shuddered anyway.  
“Please, don’t trouble yourself.”  
“Yeah no thanks.”  
“Fuck you guys, feed me.”

Max’s wakeup rounds accounted for almost everybody – she knocked gently on the door next to hers. A little girl with blond curls and a sprinkling of freckles identical to her big brother’s was already waiting amongst a nest of stuffed animals. Max smiled.  
“Hey, Angel, you’re already up!”  
“Good morning, Max. Can you button my shirt?”  
“Sure thing, sweetie.” Angel always had trouble with buttons and laces, especially right after waking up. She smiled up at Max gratefully.  
“Did you sleep well?” Max grimaced and made a noncommittal noise. The day she slept well would be the day she died.  
While she was at it, Max brushed Angel’s hair so it resembled something less like a tumbleweed. She enjoyed these moments, taking care of Angel like she was her own daughter. Angel smiled at her, picking up her sentiment telepathically. Just one of many really cool things that happened with the flock.

Max blushed realizing that Angel heard her. She had a reputation to uphold, being the tough, no-nonsense leader; it was just embarrassing when she showed her touchy-feely ‘I love Angel most’ side. Wait, fuck  
“It’s okay, Max. I love you most, too.” Angel smiled sweetly and wrapped her arms as far around Max they would go.  
Max burst into a smile and cuddled her baby. “Don’t tell on me.”

Iggy actually was cooking when Max got to the kitchen, so she wouldn’t have to kick his ass into gear. Good. She surveyed the pantry. Not so good. “The food fairies are holding out on us,” she muttered, then sighed. “Guess I gotta go shopping.” ‘Shopping’ meaning ‘buy half, lift the rest cause we aren’t made of money’. That on top of the people everywhere and the sensory overload was an anxiety attack waiting to happen.

Gazzy cheered when he saw what Iggy was cooking. Iggy grinned. “I gotchu, bro.” He stuck a plate of eggs and bacon in Max’s face, nearly smacking her but not dropping a speck of food. (Even if he had, she would have eaten it.) Fang, Gazzy, Nudge and Angel sat smushed together, noisily eating at the counter. Gazzy was starting to eye Fang’s plate even as he was working on his own. Nudge took on a lofty, authoritative tone.  
“The eggs are fluffy and seasoned perfectly. The bacon is fatty while retaining some crunch. Thank you, Chef Iggy.” She could barely finish the sentence before dissolving into giggles.

As soon as they were done eating like starved wolves, Angel piped up, “I want to go pick strawberries today. They’re ripe now.” Whether she knew because of her touch-and-go psychic powers or special interest in plants, no one could guess.  
Max nodded, because who could say no to that face? (She could, but damned if she would.) “That sounds nice. Maybe we can make strawberry shortcake when we get back.” She heard Iggy snicker from her left. “As long as you promise not to touch anything.” She turned on her heel, trademark glare already on her face.  
“WELL, I may not have skills that certain people have, but you should remember I can still kick your butt, smart-alek.” Iggy, cackling, simply pointed accusatorily at Gazzy. The kids burst out laughing. “Traitor,” Gazzy managed to say; the little goblin was practically crying. Max smacked her hand into her forehead. Gazzy had an uncanny ability to mimic any voice or sound he heard. He mostly used it to mess with people. Max pointed a very disapproving-mom look at him. “Go wash your greasy little fingers, troublemaker. Family outing in ten.”

True to her word, ten minutes later Max was herding her flock out the door with backpacks. They trudged on foot the short hike to the small cliffside field of strawberries. It was open and beautiful, and the scent of strawberries drifted in the mountain breeze. Even Fang the Broodmeister looked at ease. Max thought strawberry picking might be too cutesy for his taste, and when he drifted off she was ready to drag him back. But he opened his huge, jet-black wings and jumped up, hovering dorkily around a tree and plucking mulberries from high-up branches. Okay. She could accept that. Since he was adorable.

Though the flock was fairly spread out among the ankle-high leaves, Angel’s scream pierced every one of their ears. They looked around frantically until they saw what she did: Erasers, another very good reason Max hated leaving the house. A genetically modified brand of bird-kid eaters. They appeared to be sweet, almost normal kids, until they morphed into hulking, savage, bloodthirsty monsters with sharp teeth and claws, which was what they looked like now as they bore down on the unsuspecting flock.  
“SCATTER!” Max bellowed not a second before a fist slammed into her face like a brick. She reached under the Eraser’s arm and hit him in the solar plexus. He went down gasping, but he’d be back up in seconds. Max ran for the center of the field, looking around for her flock. They were nearly impossible to spot, outnumbered by Erasers two to one. The not-nearly-distant-enough sound of an approaching chopper meant the air would be blocked off. It looked like the Erasers were climbing up the cliff side, so that was out too. They’d have to run for the trees.

Max heard a bloodcurdling shriek on her left and turned that way. Nudge had two Erasers on her, one who grabbed her from behind when the other had distracted her. Max roundhouse kicked the advancing bastard on the thigh nerves, and he fell to his knee. Nudge poked her captor in the eyes and he dropped her. “Cover,” Max ordered her, pointing to the trees. Nudge crawled between the Eraser’s legs and ran for it. The other Eraser leaped up from the ground and took a swing at Max. His fist clipped her face, and she swooped in with cupped hands and clapped them over his ears. He actually howled with the pain of his eardrums bursting, and still managed to knee her in the stomach. She wheezed, and the Eraser who had had Nudge brought his clasped hands down on her back. She slammed to the ground hard enough to crack a regular human’s skull. Not her much tougher skull, but she saw stars until she got kicked in the side and saw black.

Through the trampled strawberries and leaves, Max could see that the others weren’t faring so hot either. She couldn’t see Nudge, but she heard more screaming that only Nudge could get that shrill. Fang was getting absolutely whaled on by three of the fuckers, Gazzy and Iggy were surrounded and losing ground. Where was Angel?

And why wasn’t Max getting kicked around some more.

She pushed herself to her feet, pain blossoming in her head. She did a 360 and spotted Angel in the air – foot caught by an Eraser. Hell No. Max sprinted in Angel’s direction, but wasn’t fast enough to stop the Eraser from yanking Angel down. Max landed a left hook on his neck, right on the trachea. He crudely pushed on her chest and she went down again, even harder than before. She dimly heard Angel shriek her name and tried to get up. Someone planted a boot on her chest and pushed her back down. Her head hit the ground. At least it’s cushioned, she thought, before the boot came around and whammed into her head and lights out.

She blinked back into consciousness and swung up to her feet. Not one, TWO helicopters beat their propellers above her, a deadly promise. The Erasers were climbing up ladders. One had a weakly wriggling sack. Max took off; literally, she ran and snapped her wings out. She reached the chopper as the Eraser tossed the sack inside. She grabbed the side of the door and reached for the sack. She nabbed the drawstring and yanked it open a little, but a brutish hand grabbed her wrist. She clenched her jaw to hold back a scream as the Eraser gripped it tighter. She could actually feel her bones grinding. Through watering eyes, she looked the Eraser in the face. He grinned at her viciously. 

“Hiya, Max. Been a while.” “Do I know you, shithead?” Max spat. He chuckled. “Maybe not like this. How about - ” he morphed backwards, an incredibly grotesque moment, until his face was less hairy and sharp and he looked like someone had poorly photoshopped a child’s head onto an ape’s body. Max froze and nearly fell off the ledge. “Ari?” she breathed. Jeb’s son. “You’re just a little kid.”

“Am I?” He laughed, and his face slid back into a monster, masklike. He pointed a rifle in her face. Max was barely phased, still stunned. “What have they done to you?” Ari laughed again, more like a scream. “They made me stronger so I could do this.” He pushed her out of the helicopter.  
She lost air fast and flapped furiously in an effort to keep up with them. They were leaving, but she was gaining on them. Ari brought the rifle’s barrel back up. She was no good to anyone dead, and she knew it. She hovered in place. She could still hear his last words to her as a blond head popped out of the sack.

“You got it all backwards, Max. We’re the good guys!”


	2. *record scratch* *freeze frame* Yeah, that's me.  I bet you're wondering how I got in this situation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> homecoming

“Kiddo? Wake up, hon.”

She pushed herself up slowly, heavy with sleep and whatever drug it was they had her on lately. She saw Jeb Batchelder’s face clearly through the bars of her cage. The cold metal poked under her painfully. She probably had more bruises.

“Are you awake?” 

She mumbled incoherently, but nodded.  
“Good.” He swiped his keycard in the lock and slowly swung the door open. “Wake the others. I’m getting the babies.” He handed the card to her.  
She stood outside her dog crate, bare feet on the cold floor, scratchy blanket around her shoulders. She blinked once, twice, trying to clear her vision. She patted her feet on the linoleum. Yes, it was solid, it was icy as ever. She was certainly awake.  
She creeped up to Jeb as he scooped up the babies, one in each arm.

“Jeb? What are we doing?”  
“We’re leaving, sweetie.” What?

She stuttered over her words shakily. “What, what do you m-mean leaving?”  
Jeb turned to her and rested a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I’m taking all of you out of here. We’re going someplace safe. You’re going to be free. Now, please wake the others, quietly.”  
She could only nod and stumble to the crate next to hers. She fumbled with the lock and poked the crate’s inhabitant. “Seven,” she hissed. He turned to her. “Already up.”  
She continued to the next two crates and shook the kids awake. Nine held Eight’s hand to guide him; her eyes wide like little moons in the darkness. He looked confused, but didn’t shrug away.

Jeb ushered the children out of their room. He took the keycard back from Six and shut the door tight, wincing at the beep as it locked. They made their way through silent halls, down the stairs, to a black SUV idling in the parking garage. He quickly got all of them in a seat, buckled each of them in and secured the drowsing babies in car seats.  
Jeb drove slowly, as if it were perfectly normal to be charioting six subjects away in secret.

Six was in the passenger seat, waking up truly and fully thanks to adrenaline. She stared out the window at the desert. It seemed endless. She could be lost forever in it. She didn’t realize she was shaking until Jeb took her hand. “It’s going to be okay, sweetie.” She nodded despite the lump in her throat.

They drove for hours on the highway, stopping once for the bathroom and for Jeb to get snacks. The kids tried to sleep through it all, but the SUV was small with seven people in it, and all of them restrained. Around hour six Jeb finally let them take off the seatbelts.

It was midday when they went off the road along a dirt path you wouldn’t see unless you knew it was there. It still took another 40 minutes to reach the foot of a rocky outcropping. A ladder stood faintly against the sheer cliff. The children looked at it with dread. They would have to climb all the way up there. Jeb’s tension, however, had dissipated completely. “Come on, kids, just a short climb! You’ll barely feel it!” They didn’t really believe him, but they made it, even with the babies.  
A house waited for them at the top of the cliff. Jeb opened the door. “Welcome home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> second chapter just feels right for flashbacks  
> at this point the flock don't have names, so they call each other by their subject number


	3. Mission: Impossible, Improbable, Unadvisable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the flock goes for a fun trip

Max stumbled on her landing and nearly rolled her ankle. She surveyed the damage in a haze.  
“Report?” she barked. She was met with unenthusiastic groans as everyone picked themselves up and checked their injuries.

Gazzy was the first to notice. Because this couldn’t get even a little bit easier. “Where’s Angel?” His voice got high at the end like it did when he was frightened. It wasn’t often. Fang and Nudge looked around in alarm, and Max was immediately met with frantic demands. Iggy squawked, “She’s not with you?!” Nudge brought her hands up to her face, with sheer terror written on it. “Where is she? Max?” Only Fang stood silent, arms crossed, eyes burning into Max with a silent, desperate plea. _Tell me they didn’t get her._

Max heard a pathetic crack in her voice when she finally said, “They took her.” She had to yell to be heard over the flock’s cries of horror. “Ari was with them. They turned him into an Eraser.” Gazzy and Nudge looked at each other uncertainly. “Jeb’s son? He was _there_ the whole time?” “Yeah.” Max impatiently wiped frustrated tears off her face. “Get your stuff. Let’s get out of here and regroup.”

They did a depressed comb-over of the field, picking up things that had dropped from their backpacks, any berries they could salvage. (“They’re quick energy,” Max had said, “We’ll need ‘em.”) It only got gloomier when Max found Angel’s pack, shredded by an Eraser’s claws. She stuffed the pack and its strewn contents into her own.

They hiked back home in silence, and treated their wounds just as quietly. It wasn’t until Max was slapping the final band aids on Gazzy’s scrapes that Iggy kicked the counter. Max winced at the noise and hoped she didn’t have a concussion.  
“What the hell happened? How did they just TAKE her?” “They kicked our asses,” Max pointed out. “You were up there! You couldn’t grab her??!” “Ari pointed a gun in my face,” she said hotly, “How d’you expect me to get someone out of a chopper with a hole in my head?” Nudge let out a sob and Max jumped. Great job freaking the poor kid out even more. She wrapped an arm around Nudge, trying to console her. “I’m sorry sweetie. It’s okay.”  
“It’s not okay,” Gazzy mumbled through his own tears. “They got my baby sister, an’ I d-don’t even know where she is, or if-if she’s alive.” Max gathered him into her arms too and gently rocked her kids side to side. “She’s definitely alive. They wouldn’t have taken her just to kill her. But it’s going to be okay. We are going to get her back, Gaz.”

“And in any case, we know where they went.” Fang was leaned against the wall, folded into himself, hands twisting a tangle close to his chest. He met Max’s gaze for a moment. Iggy stiffened and brought his hands up under his arms like he was cold. Max heard him mutter, “fuck.” Gazzy looked up tearfully at Max. Nudge looked at her too, eyes wide with growing apprehension. Max looked away. “The School.” Gazzy seemed flash-frozen in shock. Nudge moaned into Max’s shirt.  
“We have a lot of work to do.” An understatement.

Max gave the flock their orders: repack their bags for a long trip. The School knew at least the general area they were in; there was no guarantee the house was safe anymore. Max listed everything they would need, and delegated the other supplies between Fang, Iggy, and herself. She tucked the leftover money from Jeb’s safe into a pocket at the bottom of her bag, and silently assigned herself the task of packing for Angel as well. She dug up a drawstring bag and stuffed it with anything she thought Angel would want.

While the others finished packing and searching the house for things they would need in the almost definite event that they would never return, Max had a last chore in front of her. If only she worked up the courage to open the door.

Jeb’s study had never been closed to them when he was there. Ever since he disappeared two years ago, they had opened it barely a handful of times. Max touched the doorknob like it was going to bite her. But she steeled herself and defiantly pushed the door open. She didn’t combust on the spot, but she did sneeze due to the approximate fuckton of dust that had accumulated on every surface.

The study was a treasure trove of knowledge. Jeb had filled several shelves to the top with textbooks on any subject anyone would ever care to read about. And the flock HAD cared to read them, voraciously. They had spent many of the early sleepless nights in their new home lying on the floor (their beds were too soft) reading until the gray hours of the morning. Even Iggy – plenty of the books were in and about Braille.

This was the place in which they learned everything from languages to the history of Mount Everest to avian biology. It was honestly invaluable. Max hated to leave if only for its sake. She made a mental note that they might be able to carry a couple books each, despite the weight.

But she wasn’t here for that. Really, she was braving Memory Lane for the filing cabinets. Jeb hadn’t just stolen the flock; he had stolen their files and boxes of information from the School. Most of it was coded, which Jeb took as an opportunity to teach them code breaking. They would spend entirely too much time obsessing over their own files but too afraid to read them. The files were just medical information, anyway - they didn’t say how the flock was made the way they were. Max figured Jeb probably hadn’t been able to sneak that out as successfully.

After some digging, Max found a map of the Southwest marked up in pen with their home, the School, and the route Jeb took traced over the roads. Max smiled a little thinking of Jeb planning it all out so carefully. She wondered how long it would take to fly. They were faster than a car and could take a straight line west-southwest there; they’d never flown that far though, and would need breaks. Well. They got there when they got there. She pocketed the map and a blueprint of the School itself. She should remember the layout, but it wouldn’t hurt.

Nudge knocked on the open door. “Max, we’re all packed. We’re ready.” Her voice was subdued comparatively to her usual upbeat tone and she still had tear tracks on her cheeks. It hurt Max’s heart seeing her baby this upset.  
“Okay, sweetie. Tell the boys to grab whatever books they wanna keep. You, too. I gotta finish up.” Max gathered up the book on codes, a couple more for Angel, and the flock’s files. Nudge perked her head up.  
“What’re those?”

“Our files. I’m taking them with us. They might be useful.” Max shrugged. Nudge looked thoughtful. “Those have our histories. Maybe they…maybe they have hospital records. Do you remember?” “No. I mean, maybe. There’s a lot of stuff here.” Nudge gave her a pleading look. She sighed and rifled through the pile for Nudge’s folder. Nudge pored over the contents with a focus she rarely achieved. Suddenly she cried out excitedly.

“Look, look! There’s a hospital here! In…Meadview, Arizona. I don’t know where that is.” Max pulled the map from her pocket. “Maybe it’s on here.” Nudge ran a finger over it, her eyes darting around. She grinned. “It’s right there, on the Arizona-California border. It’s on the way to the School.” She glanced at Max. “It would only take a minute. Just to see.” Max sighed. “Hon, we don’t have time for that. We have to go straight there.” Nudge’s face fell seven levels. She remembered Angel and how serious this mission was. But, still…the thought of finding her parents filled her with determination. Max tried a ‘compromise’ or whatever-the-fuck. “We might be able to look after all this. Just not now.” Nudge nodded, consoled for the moment. Max had a feeling she wasn’t going to give this up easily.

“Look for what after what?” Ah yes, the not-your-business boys crowded in the doorway, craning their respective necks, except for Iggy, who the question came from. He stood behind Gazzy and Fang, with a hand on Fang’s shoulder. Not one of them could keep their noses out of anything. Max was formulating a comment on their nosiness when Nudge eagerly brought them in on her personal mission.

“We’re going to look for my parents. Maybe you guys should look, too! There’s probably something in these.” She gestured to the folders in Max’s arms. Max made a face at her and relinquished them to the grabby hands she was consequently met with. “Can someone read it to me?” “Look, it’s me as a baby!!!” “Is this my mom?” Max peeked at the photo Fang was looking at. She looked young, entirely too young, and entirely too thin.  
“Does it say how old she was?”  
“No. Fu-frick, she must be our age. No wonder she got rid of me.” Max patted his arm in an attempt to be comforting.

“Max, look I’m a baby!!” Gazzy tugged out a little polaroid.  
“I noticed, hun.” Max grinned. Gazzy stuck out his tongue.  
“I mean like a baby baby. I don’t even remember this.” It was true; the picture had a smiling, chubby little kid, had to be less than a year old, sitting on a blanket like people do with their babies in pictures to make it look like a professional photographer took it. Gazzy’s face fell as he continued to gaze at the photo. Max put an arm around his shoulders. 

“She’ll be alright, Gaz. If I have anything to say about it.” He gave her a weak smile. And just like that, a little weight, one corner of a blanket of fear and grief, was lifted off the incomplete flock. Max may have been full of hot air, but it was hot air that came from the fire inside her. Yeah, it would all be alright. They’d make it alright.

“So when are we like, getting on that?” Iggy asked nonchalantly as he hopped from one foot to the other. Max made the face that people make when they’re about to deliver disappointing news that they probably should have delivered a while ago. “You’re not going.”

“Ex-FUCKING-scuse me?” He looked ready to fight her over this. Max sighed inwardly.  
“Dude, language. And yeah, you heard me. You ain’t comin’.”  
“Why the hell not?!”  
“Because someone has to stay here with Gazzy.” That got Gazzy going, “Hey! She’s MY sister, I HAVE to go!” Max shook her head. “That’s exactly why you’re not going. This is too personal for you; I don’t want to have to watch you so you don’t do something stupid.”

Iggy growled, “So you’re sticking me on babysitting duty?” “He can’t hold the fort by himself; someone’s gotta be here with him.” Iggy stomped toward her, hands curled into fists.  
“Just say why you’re really making me stay here. It’s because I’m blind, right?” Max gulped. No turning back now.  
“Yeah. It’s because you’re blind, and I can’t watch your back.” Iggy bristled indignantly. “I GREW UP there, same as you!” Max gritted her teeth.

“And you WON’T be able to keep your cool there because you’ll be PISSED! ThereFORE, you’re sitting your ass down HERE and you’re gonna make some bombs or whatever you do for fun and you’re gonna LIKE. IT.”

He was obviously still miffed, probably for good reason, but he stopped looking like he was going to deck her. He huffed, “And what do we do when the place is inevitably crawling with Erasers?” Max’s jaw tightened.

“Blow ‘em to kingdom come.”


	4. back to school season makes my allergies act up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> today's crime: breaking and entering, theft  
> tomorrow's crime: Murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for mentions of child and animal abuse

“He was soooo mad.”  
“Thank you for the observation.”  
“He’s gonna like, boil your stuff in acid.”  
“Do I even have anything for him to destroy?”  
“Maybe he’ll microwave your Mickey Mouse clock.”  
“Thanks for the imagery.” Max started mentally listing every punishment suitable for Iggy if he put one evil finger on her Mickey Mouse clock.  
Nudge meanwhile, started to brainstorm, out loud, what Iggy might do in a fit of rage, and Max turned off her ears for a bit.  
  
They hadn’t gotten much practice flying together yet, but it was surprisingly like walking in that they simply fell into step with each other. Max flew at the point of a small V, with Fang slightly behind and to her right, and Nudge farther back and to her left. Their wings beat almost as one and Max wondered what they looked like from the ground. The goal of their current fight against gravity was to gain enough altitude that no one would notice them. Max judged from other birds they passed by, that they were going maybe 30 miles per hour. Their very direct route shaved off about 200 miles, so in totale they’d be flying four or five hundred miles. Max generously estimated, assuming they could keep up the pace, that they would be there in 13 hours. That didn’t account for injury, stamina, or getting lost. All of which Max decided Would Not be a problem, or else she would chase her own tail thinking of every little thing that could go wrong.  
  
“Hey Max? Max. Max. Max. Max. Max. Max. Ma-”  
“YES NUDGE I HEAR YOU.”  
“Do we know where we’re going?” Max chewed her lip for a second, thinking.  
“Yeah, south-south west. That’s about right.”  
“I know that, but how do we know that?”  
“Science,” Fang said in a voice that suggested he was wiggling his fingers mystically, before returning to silence. Max rolled her eyes.  
“We have like, an inner compass. Y’know, like birds do? It’s how they migrate.” Jeb had told her something more science-y sounding, but she wasn’t even sure he hadn’t made it up. Some of his wisdom seemed made up.  
“Sounds fake,” Nudge called, but didn’t argue it further since it wasn’t like she knew any better either.  
  
They flew in relative silence, with occasional reports from Nudge on what she saw on the ground, making up stories for all the little figures. They hit a thermal and let it buoy them up, up, up as easily as balloons, and being about 10,000 feet higher than they had been, relaxed their speed a little. Max closed her eyes and went on autopilot.  
  
\--  
  
“Max, I’m hungry.” Now, Nudge was no whiner, but she also wasn’t averse to admitting things like being hungry or tired, unlike Max ‘self-reliance’ Ride or Fang, who rarely said anything much less TELL anyone anything. Max was reluctant to stop when they hadn’t made much time at all; it wasn’t even sunset. She turned awkwardly over her shoulder to look at Fang. He raised his eyebrows at her and cocked his head. Kid’s gotta eat. Max’s stomach growled in agreement. She sighed and scanned the mountain peaks not far below them. For lack of a better idea, she played a word game with Fang.  
  
“Forest.”  
“Campers.”  
“Cabins.”  
“Ski cabins.”  
“Skiers who don’t come back until winter.”  
“But prob’ly left food behind.”  
  
Max slowed and stuck out her arm, and Fang swept up to meet her with a high five. Success. Nudge stared at them with a mixture of confusion and slight annoyance. Max picked the fanciest-looking cabin she could see within five miles (actually an impressive selection) and dropped. The Max Instruction Manual for landing included pivoting your body upright and pedaling your feet uselessly in the air to be ready to run once you hit the ground. It looked ridiculous, but no one fell on their face because they tried to come to a dead stop. Max jogged up to the cabin, shaking her wings to cool them off. She skipped the door and went straight for a window. It was easy work to pop out the screen, and then wiggle the frame until the latch was dislodged. No one ever did maintenance on these things, did they?  
  
Max poked her head in to make sure there weren’t animals hanging out already, and waved the others over. They climbed through the window and searched the cabin for a pantry, leaving footprints in a thick layer of dust. Their search yielded quick results.  
“Bingooo.” Max held up a can of ravioli: only the tastiest of canned foods. It was a well-stocked pantry, with mostly pre-prepared things like ravioli or chili; there were also canned veggies (ew) and fruits (the good shit). Fang opened a dark mini fridge and pulled out bottles of orange soda, the fancy glass kind from Mexico. Further inspection proved it was meant to be served cold, but three bird kids on a mission have very low standards.  
They could each finish off three (or four. or five.) cans and they absolutely did just that. Wolves. And they promptly passed the heck out on the first soft surface they found through the soporific haze.  
  
\--  
  
Max woke up bleary eyed and turned over. Her bed felt totally wrong and it was driving her up the wall. She was used to waking up in the middle of the night, but it was usually due to nightmares. She turned again and flopped her head down in frustration, and suddenly choked on a cloud of dust.  
  
This wasn’t her bed.  
  
This was a sofa covered with a sheet in a cabin where they took a rest stop on the way to save Angel and it was NIGHT -  
“FUCK.”  
  
Max tumbled off the sofa and scrambled to wake Nudge up.  
“Nudge Nudge Nudge wake up sweetie we have to go right now immediately”  
  
Nudge was a slow waker unless the bathroom was at stake, and she was just too sluggish to register the urgency of the current issue. But she reluctantly rolled off her cot and started to stretch.  
Max’s yell had already woken Fang, and he rose and grabbed his backpack in one fluid motion even as he was still opening his eyes. He flopped his pack to the floor and started shoving cans in anywhere they’d fit. Max sighed at him.  
“No, you’ll be weighed down. There’s literally nothing heavier than cans.” He paused. He shrugged and continued piling cans. Stubborn as an ass.  
“Fine. Better keep up, macho man.” He stuck his tongue out at her.  
  
Max hastily stretched with Nudge, and made Fang do it too because a cramped wing was actually on the bottom of the list of things Max needed today. The second they were done Max practically threw Nudge out the window and shoved Fang and his comically large backpack out before clambering out herself. She took a running start until the trees were a blur, then leaped into the air with all her strength and snapped her wings out, beating them furiously. The cabin was like a tiny Polly Pocket house before she checked that Nudge and Fang were with her. Of course they were, but she had far outstripped them. She hovered impatiently until they caught up. Nudge raised her eyebrows at Max.  
  
“You know, we were coming, like. Dang.”  
“I know, but it’s nearly morning.” Nudge groaned.  
They gathered speed across the gray sky, desperate to make up for lost time. So much lost time. Max felt a lump of guilt in her chest. _I’m sorry, so sorry, baby. We’re coming._  
  
When they had gotten up to speed, Fang pushed forward up next to Max.  
“We did have to stop.”  
“If it were just me…”  
“Yeah if it were just you you’d be there by now. You’d also be missing a cavalry. Can’t break her out by yourself, even you.”  
“How do you think she’s holding up?”  
“She’s tough as nails, and she knows we’re coming. Frankly I’m almost worried for the whitecoats.” Max laughed weakly.  
“Poor sods don’t stand a chance.”  
  
\--  
  
Angel sat up in the darkness. She looked around, willing her eyes to adjust to the low light from the narrow windows. The day had been a blur. The second the helicopter landed, they’d tossed her into a dog crate. Not even a very big dog crate. Some old man had done a humiliating checkup, and then they’d put her on a treadmill like a hamster. If she slowed, they poked her with something uncomfortably like a high-tech cowprod that zapped her.  
She ran her hands over her legs. The crate was so small, and the hospital gown she had to wear was itchy, and the blanket under her didn’t really soften the bars. She gulped around a lump in her throat. She’d heard Max and Fang and Iggy’s horror stories, spoken in hushed whispers amongst themselves when she was supposed to be asleep. She’d rubbed Nudge’s back when she whimpered in her dreams. She’d felt all their unspoken terror, all the hatred in the dark corners of their minds that they shoved away.  
  
She’d known it was bad. She couldn’t have guessed what it was like, though.  
It was pure evil. It was scary and humiliating and dehumanizing. She felt like a lab rat. Once she had watched a documentary about animal cruelty. It had been a bad idea. Max walked in right as it showed animals stacked in cages in a lab and she’d screamed. Angel was crying for the animals, and then she was crying for Max, who’d curled up into a little ball behind the couch. She turned off the TV and apologized and apologized, and Max said it was okay but it wasn’t okay at all. She was afraid to watch TV by herself for months afterward.  
  
Anything that had Max afraid like that… Angel couldn’t imagine it.  
  
She wrapped the blanket around herself tight and sobbed. 


End file.
